Your Thoughts about Orientalism

[Enzie Shahmiri]

I just received my May issue of Arts and Antiques and was utterly delighted to see an article on Orientalism. It also raised some questions which I like to share with you after a little art history lesson, for those not familiar with Orientalism.

Orientalism is a term used to describe the academic portrayal of Middle Eastern themes. Many European artists would travel to North Africa, Persia, India and the Holy Land in search of exotic imagery, which they in turn would paint either on location or bring home in form of sketches to develop into grand paintings in their studios.

The most popular time for the Orientalist school was in the 19th century and the work ranged from harem images with reclining odalisques, to turbaned men going about their business to landscapes with mosques and temples. Colors were warm and vibrant, handling was often more detailed than loose and most importantly many scenes were painted as if they could belong to the Arabian Nights. In other words, with the exception of landscape paintings, most interior scenes were staged, often playing up to a

[Enzie Shahmiri]

Fillette a la fenetre (girl by the window) Etienne Dinet

[Enzie Shahmiri]

Portrait of Toklihili, the Indian Princess by Sophie Anderson

[Enzie Shahmiri]

Pipe Smoker by Charles Lefebvre

[Enzie Shahmiri]

Jeune filles dansant et chantant (girls dancing and singing) by Etienne Dinet

[Enzie Shahmiri]

Une joueuse de flute ( a flute player). This is an interior of a harem in Constantinople, 1860 by Henrietta Browne.

There is a slight error, because women in an interior setting, in the company of each other never cover their faces. Even Browne has to some extent played into the preconceived notion of the Middle Eastern female by shrouding their faces for the European male's gaze.

[Allan Rahbek]

What I like to know pertains to what you think an Orientalist painter of today should be depicting. Do you think portraits of people from the East should be idealized and exotic, evoking those fantasy settings of the 19th century Orientalist school or show the blend of cultural overlapping as it exists today? Based on the existing imagery in art and media what are your thoughts on what the East is truly like.

I like to point out that I am half German and half Iranian. Besides having lived in Europe and continuously traveling, I have also lived in Iran for many years and speak the language fluently. My cultural background has provided me with a nice understanding of the subtle differences and striking similarities, once the veil of preconceived perception is dropped.

Enzie
Thank you for sharing your insight and the beautiful paintings. I like very much to look at different sorts of art and find that the Japanese and Chinese painters have a nerve that inspires.

I believe that we should look everywhere for inspiration and treat what we find in the best artistic tradition. I mean, it is not good enough to paint an Indian or a cowboy looking like that. You got to catch there souls if it shall be a lasting joy to look at.

I have a book of Turners watercolors from his travels along the German rivers like the Rhine. Turner made drawings and watercolors from every fine view he saw. These pictures were multiplied in etchings and served as the exotic catalog of what you could see in Germany.
When I look in this book the only sensations are his mastery of painting the scenes.

The point is, that when you have seen ten paintings of exotic orientals, the exoticism vanish, and then what is left ? It have to be an artistic expression and not only your personal feeling of seeing something new.

Allan

[Enzie Shahmiri]

Allan, I agree that you have to capture the soul regardless from which ethnicity you are taking your inspiration from and that you should implement your artistic touch to make a lasting impression.

You brought up the native Indians and I am going to use them to further the point I am trying to make. Unless you are invited to an Indian reservations and are granted entry to their special ceremonies are you truly reprenting "Western Art" if you paint them in their colorful costumes performing during a staged cultural event? Very seldomly do you see a Native American represented in art as anyone different then what our common age old perception of him is. In other words a man with feathery head dress and a hawk nose. I am of course exagerating, but I don't recall seeing paintings of a Native American as a teacher or engineer.

Thanks to a certain degree of typecasting we associate people with the images we have been presented about them. So as a "Western Artist" are we doing the Native American a favor by continuing to portray him as he lived in the 19th century, because we like the colorful and adventures looking images or should we show a true representation of him as he lives today? The same applies to the imagery of the Orient. You have to travel to very remote places and gain privileged access to paint people in exotic costumes and settings, otherwise you have to work from images of Miiddle Easterners in blue jeans (exaggerated to make the point).

[Tom Edgerton]

Fake 19th Century Orientalism painted today will still feel fake. Just as "staged" Western American art feels fake.

Just compare Remington with a lot of the idealized, "heroic" Western art being painted retroactively today. While the modern research and detail is unassailable, and the technique impeccable, you can still tell the truly observed, contemporary scenes from the "tricked up" nostalgia nearly every time. But different strokes for different folks.

Sargent's incredible watercolors of foreign scenes in Italy and Africa ring with truth and authenticity precisely because he was painting what was before him, not some idealized scene from his head.

For a look at some really fine painting and observation of foreign locales, check out the art and travel diaries of Scott Burdick and Sue Lyon. They've sent themselves around the world with their art. Some of it is very exotic, but always truthfully observed and immediate in feel.

http://scottburdick.com/avoriginals.htm and http://scottburdick.com/avorgnlsScott.htm

I don't know, Enzie, for me I think the contemporary Iranian in bluejeans would be a far more interesting and authentic image than some thinly staged 19th century costume drama.

Just my opinion, nothing else.--TE

[Sharon Knettell]

So many paintings, so little that is honest.

I am not a fan of recreating images of quaint natives in present day costume or recreations of days gone by. The trend toward the nostalgic, is intellectually dishonest and an easy prey for an artist who is too lazy to come up with an original point of view. Nostalgia is a dangerous trend, it is fascist, by its very nature. It is the kind of art that was promoted by Hitler in the Third Reich, charming quaint pictures of the perfect German family in their country costumes.

In that vein, I think the paintings of the Tibetans are exploitive, as are the colorful Indians of the West. I happen to have many Tibetan friends and I think that they would find these paintings condescending.